The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1917 THE FARMERS' UNION.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 274, 11 May 1917, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1917 THE FARMERS' UNION.

" We nothing exienuate, nor net down nuahl in malice."

WHEN seventeen years ago the Karmcrs' Union was inaugurated ns ;i counter-stroke to the extreme social and labour legislation vvliicli was ;it thai lime being introduced by the late Mr U. .1 . Scddon il was hoped by its founder, Mr A. (i. ('. Glass, and those who wore actively associated with him that il would become a non-party political force ca])able of holding in chock the reactionary tendencies which have culminated in tlit? syndicalist, the I.W.VV. agil a tor, a ml the " go-slo\v " coalmiuer. The stale thai lartnei> have in the country and their well f now n tendency to examine hoi h sides of ;iny socalled " I'efhrm '' before adopting il gave the I nilm's many friends e;ood reason lo believe llial il would Itcrmni' I he most ; powei fu I organisjil ion in New | Zealand, an uncompromising J opponent of hasty and i 11 - considered legislal ion. an able exponent of all thai leads to safe and durable progress a nd a wholesome curb upon t he pro- ' divide* of M inislers of all I parties |o pander lo the mob | | Thai ii has at least partially j

failed in its mission has become patent, lis obvious duly i, now

to discover the causes of that failure and to apply such remedies as will restore it to sufficient vigour to play the part it ought to play in our social and economic polity.

Catering as the "Times " does, for a district the greater part of the inhabitants of which are either farmers or closely depending upon the farming industry, we have the strongest incentive for desiring that the Farmers' Union should be placed upon a sound and strong footing and become capable of exerting a weighty and beneficial influence upon public affairs and we should be doing less than our duty if we failed to point out what we consider to be the weak points in the management of the Union, and to suggest what we think might be done in the way of improvement. To begin with we are of the opinion that the Union dissipates too much of its strength by undue scattering of its forces ; that much of its power is frittered away in ineffectual taps upon too many wedges instead of being reserved for driving home the ones that will really rive the log. A review of the activities of the Executive for any recent year, or a glance at the agenda-paper for one of the annual conferences, will show clearly what we mean. If the Union is to succeed in becoming the potent force in our national life that we hope to see it, it will have to pin itself more closely to essentials than it has done in the past. We are not by any means counselling that it should not exercise ceaseless vigilance upon all matters concerning farmers, only that in dealing with these matters it should preserve a sense of proportion, and not unduly magnify things of merely trifling consequence. The over-crowding of the order-paper with matters of secondary, or, still worse, of solely local importance greatly weakens the effect upon the Government and the general community of the deliberations and decisions of the Union's representatives, and has the further evil consequence of taking up much time that might be profitably employed in discussing the things that really count,

But what in our opinion really weakens the Union more than anything else is that the hranches have absolutely no voice in the election of the Executive. Until this is reme'died we cannot hope that the organisation will have much weight in moulding national affairs, or that it will escape being compelled to accept the blame for the foolishness of those the general public not unnaturally believe to be its accredited representatives. We are glad to see (hat the Mauku Branch is moving in the direction of securing an Executive really reflecting the views of members, and (rust it may meet

with success. For some considerable time if has been apparent that tho Auckland Provincial Executive is hopelessly out of touch with the branches, a position arising chiefly out of the defects in tho mode of their election, and although con-

siderations of space prevent our dealing further with this matter to-day we trust at an early date to be able to recur to it.